Saturday May 31, 2014 will mark the 125th anniversary of one
of the worst disasters in American history – the Johnstown Flood. The Glessners were staying at the Brunswick
Hotel in New York at the time, and two mentions of the calamity were made in
Frances Glessner’s journal.

Brunswick Hotel, New York City

June 1st,
1889:

It rained at
intervals all day yesterday and the wind blew in a most disagreeable
manner. Today we got up very early for
John was to leave by the Penn. route for home (Chicago). We went to a very early breakfast and found
by the paper that the town of Johnstown Penn. had been swept away by a flood
and all the trains were stopped – so John went to the ticket office and stopped
his trunk and changed his route to the Mich. Central.

June 2nd:

Today I am alone and
have rested on the bed and have read the account of the Johnstown flood. The papers estimate the loss of life at over
1000 persons.

The Johnstown Flood of 1889 occurred when a dam located 14 miles
upstream of Johnstown, Pennsylvania on the Little Conemaugh River failed after
days of unusually heavy rainfall. It is
estimated that 20 million tons of water (equivalent to 4.8 billion gallons)
were released from the reservoir behind the dam, known as Lake Conemaugh. The lake itself covered approximately two
square miles and was situated 450 feet above Johnstown. More than 2,200 people were killed, and many
of the bodies were never found or identified.
The disaster resulted in the largest loss of civilian life in the United
States at the time, only to be surpassed by the 1900 Galveston hurricane and
the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Property loss was estimated at $17 million including the total loss of
four square miles of downtown Johnstown and more than 1,600 homes.

Johnstown was located in the narrow Conemaugh Valley in the Allegheny
Mountains and the area was always subject to flooding due to its terrain and
the large amounts of runoff from rain and snowfall. The South Fork Dam was constructed between
1838 and 1853 as part of the canal system in the state. It was eventually sold into private hands and
acquired by industrialist Henry Clay Frick and other wealthy Pittsburgh
residents, who converted the private lake into a summer resort. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club
opened in 1881.

Cottages at Lake Conemaugh

A devastating rainstorm hit the Johnstown area on May 30, 1889; at the
time it was the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in that part of the
country. Up to ten inches of rain fell
in just 24 hours causing rivers to swell and overflow their banks, threatening
Johnstown with severe flooding. The
president of the Club noticed the level of the Lake and the strained condition
of the dam. Warnings were sent to
Johnstown but were ignored as there had been many false alarms in the past.

The South Fork Dam collapsed shortly after 3:00pm on May 31st
sending the 20 million tons of water from Lake Conemaugh into the valley
below. Within 40 minutes the entire lake
was drained. The flood hit the small
town of South Fork first which was on high ground, so the loss of life was
minimal. As the flood continued
downstream, it picked up enormous quantities of debris including trees, houses,
and animals. The accumulated debris
resulted in the flood being stopped temporarily at a railroad bridge, Conemaugh
Viaduct. But in less than ten minutes
the viaduct collapsed and the resulting release of the water and debris
produced a much larger and stronger wave as it headed toward Johnstown. It decimated the towns of Mineral Point, East
Conemaugh, and Woodvale and gathered more and more debris including miles of
barbed wire from the Gautier Wire Works.

The flood hit Johnstown a little after 4:00pm. The wall of water and debris was moving at a
rate of 40 miles per hour when it hit the town and was as high as 60 feet in
places. The water was stopped when
debris piled up against a huge stone railroad bridge which carried the
Pennsylvania Railroad across the Conemaugh River. The debris caught fire and burned for three
days. When the floodwaters finally
receded, the pile of debris at the bridge covered 30 acres and reached 70 feet
in height. It took months to clear and
dynamite was needed as much of the debris was entangled in barbed wire.

Relief started arriving in the area within a few days when the stone
railroad viaduct was repaired and trains were able to come into the area. The disaster also marked the first major
relief effort by the newly formed American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton who
remained for more than five months. Nearly
$4 million was received from across the country and around the world, including
significant donations from members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Many blamed the Club for not properly
maintaining the dam although courts maintained that the disaster was an Act of
God, so the Club and its members were never held legally responsible.

Andrew Carnegie built the town a new library; today it is owned by the
Johnstown Historical Society which operates it as The Flood Museum. The Stone Bridge still stands and now forms
part of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial, managed by the National Park
Service.